[Ads-l] meet cute

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Yes, the noun sense is interesting. I briefly looked for an instance
before posting, but was unable to improve upon Ben's 1952 citation
which is currently listed in the OED. The query string "meet cute"
yields an enormous number of false matches in newspapers.com. So you
have to adopt a strategy to prune the matches.

GenealogyBank is better. It has fewer false matches, but it is a
smaller database, and I did not find anything pertinent before 1952.
Perhaps another searcher will find something.
Garson

On Mon, Jan 24, 2022 at 8:21 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The 1952 cite is one that I shared to the list back in 2005 (and then again
> in 2019). Haven't hunted for the noun more recently.
>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2005-December/056054.html
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2019-February/154166.html
>
> On Mon, Jan 24, 2022 at 7:55 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > Yes, but what's really interesting is the noun, mentioned in passing by
> > Barry:  a meet-cute.  None of the early cites involve the noun, and it
> > would be interesting to know when that first appeared in print. The OED
> > provides this gloss and first cite, but it seems like the 1952 cite from
> > the NYTBR presupposes readers' familiarity with the term (in its nominal
> > form).
> >
> > OED, s.v. meet-cute, n.
> >
> > Chiefly with reference to films, novels, etc.: an amusing or charming first
> > encounter between two people that leads to the development of a romantic
> > relationship between them.
> > 1952   *N.Y. Times Bk. Rev.* 12 Oct. 24/2   This may well be, in magazine
> > parlance, the neatest meet-cute of the week—the story of a ghost-writer who
> > falls in love with a ghost.
> >
> > LH
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 24, 2022 at 7:14 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> > adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > A thread about "meet cute" occurred in February 2019. I posted the May
> > > 22, 1937 citation for the verb form in "The New Yorker".
> > >
> > >
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2019-February/154161.html
> > >
> > > Ben Zimmer pointed out that Barry Popik had already shared the cite on
> > > his Big Apple website:
> > >
> > > “Meet cute” (romantic comedy rule)
> > > https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/meet_cute/
> > >
> > > Garson
> > >
> > > On Mon, Jan 24, 2022 at 7:31 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > OED's word of the day has meet-cute, n. from 1952; to meet cute, v.
> > from
> > > 1941, "as they say in story conferences."
> > > >
> > > > "They Meet Cute," New Yorker story title, by Alan Campbell. (Incipit:
> > > "The rest of the script is fine, boys....") May 22, 1937, p. 37, c.1.
> > > >
> > > > (I don't have Variety archives online.)
> >
>
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